Sounding 
Brass 

By 

EDWARD HALE 
BIERSTADT 




Stewart Kidd 

LITTLE THEATRE PLAYS 
Edited by 

GRACE ADAMS 



Slewan KM Little TheaiFe Plays 

Edited by Grace Adams 

The Stewart Kidd Little Theatre Plays are 
designed to meet two definite demands. The first 
Is that of the many Little Theatres for plays of 
actual dramatic distinction and of artistic impor- 
tance. The second is that of the general public 
for plays of true literary value. 

The Series is under the direct supervision of 
Miss Adams, who has selected and edited the 
plays to meet the particular requirements here 
instanced. The price of the plays has been made 
unusually low in the effort to bring them within 
the reach of everyone. Each play is issued in a 
form that is entirely practical for purposes of pro- 
duction At the same time the books are artistic 
and attractive in appearance. They are by no 
means merely acting versions. 

Bound in art paper, each 50c 
TITLES 

No= i> THE GHOST STORY 
by Booth Tarkington 

No. 2. SOUNDING BRASS 

by Edward Hale Bierstadt 

No. 3. A FAN AND TWO CANDLESTICKS 
by Mary MagMillan 

Others in preparation 



No. 2 
STEWART KIDD LITTLE THEATRE PLAYS 

Edited by Grace Adams 



SOUNDING BRASS 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/soundingbrassOObier 



Sounding Brass 



EDWARD HALE BIERSTADT 



STEWART ft KIDD 




ONQNNATI U. S. A. 



CINCINNATI 
STEWART KIDD COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 









COPYRIGHT, 1917, I922, BY 

EDWARD HALE BIERSTADT 




1 
< 



\ v 

V 



All rights reserved 






Application for permission to produce Sounding Brass must be 
made to the author, who may be addressed in care of the publish- 
ers, Stewart Kidd Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Printed in the United States of America 
The Caxton Press 

©C1A680S66 

AUG 26 IS22 






i 



TO 

STUART WALKER 



FOREWORD 

A one-act play enriched by a foreword and notes 
seems rather like a one-room shack with a porte- 
cochere and a garage. I have insisted, however, 
even against the lamentations of the editor, on 
writing a foreword to this particular play because, 
having introduced so many plays by other people, 
I want to know how it feels to introduce a small 
play of my own. Moreover, Sounding Brass has 
a not uninteresting history. 

In 191 5, Miss Louise Burleigh and I were 
working on a long play of prison life, a play 
since published under the title of Punishment, 
and now out of print. We utilized many of the 
incidents I had noted in my unofficial association 
with Thomas Mott Osborne during his remarkable 
wardenship of Sing Sing, and when the play was 
finally issued Mr. Osborne wrote an introduction 
for it, and sent it on its way with his good will. 

I am sure that everyone who reads this has 
written plays; proverbially the disease is as in- 
escapable as the measles. These playwrights, 
then, will undoubtedly recall how many false 
starts they have made, how many angles of ap- 
proach have been considered and rejected, and 
how often an entire act has been consigned to the 
waste-paper basket. Probably it has seemed to 
many of us, however, that after we had chopped 
a book or a play to pieces and put it together again, 
that it was a pity that some of the discarded 
material, good in itself but unfitted to the new 

7 



FOREWORD 



pattern, should be entirely lost. That, in effect, 
is the event with Sounding Brass. It was once 
the Prologue to Punishment. Now it claims its 
own place under the spot-light. It is no longer 
"discarded material." 

It is to be doubted whether anyone who reads 
this has ever read Punishment, and still more if, 
having read it, retains any very coherent recollec- 
tion of that play. If by chance he does, he will 
remark that Sounding Brass is made up primarily 
of the "previous action" of the longer play, action 
which was necessarily relegated to the place of 
exposition in the final form. Indeed, it would be 
amusing, and by no means uninstructive, to take 
the two plays and compare them, marking how 
interlocked they are, yet how distinct; observing 
in what manner they overlap and why; and 
noticing the inevitable plagiarism that this 
particular utilization gives rise to. If any student 
of play construction ever takes the trouble to 
make such a comparison, he has, at least, my 
blessing. May he find it worth his trouble. . . . 
Needless to say, Sounding Brass has been recon- 
structed and wholly rewritten, so that now it 
stands solidly, I hope, as a one-act play. 

Originally this play was called The Fifth Com- 
mandment. Indeed, it had magazine publication 
under that title. A short time ago, however, it 
was pointed out to me by one who appeared to 
be in a position to speak ex cathedra that the 
commandments are numbered differently in the 
Protestant and in the Roman Catholic Churches, 
a matter which had escaped me before. That left 
the title distressingly ambiguous, and necessitated 

8 



FOREWORD 



a change. So I fell back in reasonably good order 
on Sounding Brass, at least firm in the conviction 
that Tinkling Cymbals would hardly fit the nature 
of the work. 

And now, lest you rise in wrath and say, "What- 
ever the play is called, the foreword surely should 
be entitled Much Ado About Nothing," let me 
close this curtain-speech and leave you to the 
play. Such as it is, it is quite at your disposal. 
I have at any rate carried out my threat, and 
have introduced something of my own — a vast 
satisfaction! Edward Hale Bierstadt. 



New York City, 
May i, 1922. 



CHARACTERS 

Mrs. Calvin, 

John Ca&vin, her husband: Warden of 

Riverside Prison. 
Walter, their son. 
King, the Principal Keeper. 



NOTE 

I am indebted to The Drama for permission to republish 

this play which first appeared in its pages under the title of 

The Fifth Commandment. E. H. B. 



SOUNDING BRASS 

The living-room of the Warden s quarters in River- 
side Prison is a grim room with heavily carved 
golden-oak pannelling running up to a height 
of about four feet all around the walls. The 
walls themselves are painted a peculiarly ghastly 
color which can only be known as "institutional 
green" At the back are two large windows 
crisscrossed by great iron bars. These windows 
look out into the prison yard. From them may 
be seen a bit of the cell-block — grey walls, with 
regular rows of small windows and large ven- 
tilators at intervals. There is a dull green 
carpet on the floor. A fireplace at the right 
suggests a certain utilitarian comfort, and a read- 
ing couch, with a sewing table beside it, rises by 
contrast to the height of luxury. In the center of 
the room is a library table with a lamp, a few 
books, and magazines on it. There is also an 
armchair at its side. Along the left wall and be- 
tween the windows at the back are bookcases 
filled with long rows of official-looking volumes — 
doubtless reports and the like. A door at the left 
leads to the outer offices, and double doors on the 
right lead to the other rooms of the Warden s 
establishment. 

Mrs. Calvin, in a soft, grey-toned house frock, 
is lying on the reading couch. Opposite, and 
very near to her, Walter faces her on a low stool. 
l 3 



SOUNDING BRASS 



There are books tumbled on the floor about him, 
and he holds one in ■ his hand. Mrs. Calvin is 
a tall, dark, slender woman of about forty. She 
shows an habitual and studied restraint, and 
under this the occasionally evident fires of a sensi- 
tive, passionate temperament. 

Walter is a slight, fair boy of ten. He is nervous, 
eager, impulsive; too high-strung, too sensitive, 
and with a passion which knits all of these at 
times into a dangerous flame. Walter reads aloud 
slowly, and his mother watches him, her gaze 
sometimes diverted by the firelight. 

walter {reading) "And . . . following . . . 
at his chariot wheels . . . came many prison- 
ers. 

mrs. calvin {her eyes on the fire) 
Yes, dear. 

WALTER 

"These were the captives of war. And first 
were the strong young men, prisoners. . . ." 

{He pauses.) 

mrs. calvin {smiling at him) 
Go on, son. 

WALTER 

". . . prisoners . . ." Mother! 

MRS. CALVIN 

Well? 

14 



SOUNDING BRASS 



WALTER 

Were the prisoners {he taps the book) like the 
ones in Father's prison? 

{Walter has indicated with a gesture the cell- 
row seen through the windows at the back. At 
the mention of the prison, Mrs. Calvin, who has 
been languid, becomes tense. Her lips grow into 
a pained line, and her eyes no longer rest on 
the fire.) 

mrs. calvin {in a low voice) 

No. 
walter {eagerly) 

What sort of prisoners, Mother? 

MRS. CALVIN 

Caesar's captives were the soldiers who had 
fought against him. 

WALTER 

Were they bad? 

MRS. CALVIN 

No, son. 
walter {persisting) 

Then why were they prisoners? Father says 
the prisoners are wicked men. Father says the 
Law puts them in prison because they are bad. 
Father says bad people must be punished. 
{Mrs. Calvin winces.) Weren't Caesar's prison- 
ers wicked, too? Then why did he put them in 
prison ? 

MRS. CALVIN 

It was his way of making war, dear. Mother 
doesn't understand these things either. Finish 
your page, and then lessons are over. We've 
done well today, haven't we? 
15 



SOUNDING BRASS 



WALTER 

I like lessons with you, Mother. (He reads 
on.) "... prisoners taken in battle. Then 
came the old men — of the Council of State. 
They walked with bowed heads, broken with 
shame. And last came the women — the wives, 
the mothers, and maidens . . ." (He breaks 
off.) Mother, there are no ladies in my father's 
prison. 

mrs. calvin (sharply) 

Walter! Don't call it your father's prison! 

Walter (surprised) 
But it is! 

mrs. calvin (tenderly) 

Come here, dear. (Walter rises and stands 
within the circle of her arm.) Father is here as 
Warden to help the Governor. The Governor 
wants the prison to be a better place, and 
Father is trying to make it so. 

Walter (cannily) 

Don't you want him to, Mother? 

MRS. CALVIN 

You couldn't understand now, dear, even if I 
tried to explain, but when you're a grown man 
I hope you'll know — as I do. 

WALTER 

Don't you like it here, Mother? 

mrs. calvin (glancing about with a smile) 
Not so well as at home; do you ? 

Walter (reflectively) 

I like home better. (He kisses her, and she 
smiles, then motions him back to his book.) 
16 



SOUNDING BRASS 



MRS. CALVIN 

Once more! And this time we do finish! 
Walter {reseating himself, and taking up the 
book) 

"Behind them on elephants . . ." Elephants! 
Oh, Mother! 

MRS. CALVIN 

Yes? 
walter {dropping the book in his excitement) 

The circus is coming! It's coming this week, 

and all the bunch is going. May I go? 
mrs. calvin {slightly troubled) 

The circus? 

WALTER 

In a tent with three rings — and they have 
twelve elephants! May I go? I've never seen 
a circus. 

MRS. CALVIN 

You must ask your father, dear. 
walter {disappointed) 

Oh! 
mrs. calvin {glancing at the clock) 

Father will be in for dinner. We must finish 

the reading quickly. 
walter {resuming his book) 

I do hope Father will let me go to the circus. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Well, perhaps he will. {She smiles brightly.) 
Go on, dear. 

{Before he has found his place , Walter is stopped 
by the sudden entrance of Calvin, who comes in 
quickly and goes at once to his wife's side. Cal- 
17 



SOUNDING BRASS 



vin is a big-boned man, though sparely built, 
with a stern, set face, and black hair turning grey. 
He is yiaturally quick, explosive, dynamic, but 
all this is under the spell of a terrific self-repres- 
sion which perverts his natural warm-heartedness 
into a frigid sense of justice and duty. In a word, 
he is a thorough Scotch Covenanter — a throw- 
back to a type that found its only heaven in hell.) 

calvin {resting his hand for a second on his wife's 
shoulder) 
Good evening, Mary. I hope you're better. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Much better. {She smiles at Walter.) Walter 
has been entertaining me with Caesar's triumphs. 
{There is too much smoothness in her tone: she is 
very evidently used to standing between them.) 
You must read for Father, Walter. 

CALVIN 

Behindhand with lessons again, Walter? 

WALTER 

No, sir. 

CALVIN 

Good. But you mustn't take your mother's 
strength for things that should be done at 
school. 

Walter {startled) 

Oh, do you think it hurts her? 

CALVIN 

Your mother isn't well. 

MRS. CALVIN 

It's a pleasure for me, John, as well as for 
Walter. I could easily . . . 
18 



SOUNDING BRASS 



calvin {shaking his head) 

Even if you were strong, my dear, lessons are 

not a matter of pleasure. They are a duty. 

The boy must learn the difference. {His face 

sets.) 
mrs. calvin {her eyes closing wearily) 

I suppose so. 
calvin {after a moment in which Walter looks 
from one to the other and makes an involuntary 

movement toward his mother, speaks in a wholly 

different tone) 

Could dinner be set back a bit, Mary, say 

half an hour? I shall have to see the Principal 

Keeper in a little while, and I don't like prison 

affairs to interrupt our home life. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Of course. Son, run and ask Martin to have 
dinner at seven-thirty. {Walter slips out. Mrs. 
Calvin speaks rather shyly to her husband, for 
she does not often ask for information.) Nothing 
the matter in the prison, is there, John? 

calvin {gravely) 

A bad fight between cell-mates. That fellow, 
Moyne. He is a tough specimen. I'm waiting 
for the P. K. to report to me now. 

mrs. calvin {alert) 

Isn't Moyne the man you put in the straight- 
jacket? 

calvin {nods, and a blue flame begins to show in 
his eyes which grow almost fanatic) 
Nothing has any effect, solitary confinement — 
the straight-jacket — starvation — {Mrs. Calvin 
winces.) We'll try the dark-cell now! 
19 



SOUNDING BRASS 



mrs. calvin {disregarding the last sentence) 

But it does have an effect, John. It makes him 
fight you harder than ever. 

calvin {his jaw set squarely) 
The man must be broken. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Not broke?!, John. 

CALVIN 

Yes, just that! I wish you'd look at these men 
without sentimentality, Mary. Until you're 
able to understand things better, we won't 
discuss the prison at all. 

{Mrs. Calvin looks down in silence. Calvin 
speaks in the tone of one who deliberately changes 
the subject.) 

CALVIN 

Did the doctor come, Mary? {She nods.) 
What did he say? 

MRS. CALVIN 

Very encouraging things. 

CALVIN 

Is your heart all right again? 

MRS. CALVIN 

Yes. 

{Calvin be?ids down and kisses her.) 

mrs. calvin {smiling up at him) 

He even said the strychnine wasn't necessary 
any more. He gave me a new tonic. 

calvin {taking up a small phial from the table) 
Is this the new tonic? 

20 



SOUNDING BRASS 



MRS. CALVIN 

No, it hasn't come yet. That's the strychnine. 

{Walter comes in and nods to his mother. Calvin 
holds out the phial which is marked "Poison". 
It is nearly full.) 

CALVIN 

These ought to be put away safely, Mary. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Yes. Walter, take Mother's pills upstairs, 
please. Put them in the medicine closet in the 
bathroom. 
Walter {taking the bottle and reading the label) 
Do they kill people? 

MRS. CALVIN 

Yes, if they take too many. Run along, dear. 

{Walter shakes the bottle curiously and starts out.) 

mrs. calvin {calling after him as he disappears) 
On the top shelf, dear. 

CALVIN 

The boy's been wearing you out. 

MRS. CALVIN 

John, I wish I could make you understand that 
he never tires me . 

calvin {smiling with gentle superiority) 

I understand that you're always overtiring 
yourself for that husky youngster. 

MRS. CALVIN 

But, John — Walter isn't husky. He's high- 
strung, like me. 

21 



SOUNDING BRASS 



calvin {laughs shortly) 
He's a young calf! 

MRS. CALVIN 

No, he . . Hush! 

(Walter comes back. He looks from one to the 
other, ayid then sits by his mother.) 

CALVIN 

I'm glad you're getting on, Walter. 
walter (shyly) 

Yes, sir. 
calvin (trying to be pleasant) 

Read me a bit. 

(Walter, delighted, takes the book.) 

WALTER 

Here's where we left off. . . . "And Caesar 
came into the city in a triumphal procession." 

calvin (easily — laughing a little) 

Triumphal procession? Do you know what 
that means? 

walter (keenly alive to any real interest in his 
father) 

Of course! First comes the general in his 
chariot in his robes of state, drawn by six white 
horses. Then come the captives, men and 
maidens. And then the book says, elephants! 

calvin (with heavy humor) 

White horses and elephants! Sounds like a 
circus parade to me. 

walter (dropping his book) 

Oh, Father! There is going to be a circus here — 
this week! 

22 



SOUNDING BRASS 



calvin (his genial manner going at once) 
A circus? 

(Mrs. Calvin never takes her eyes from them for 
long. She is alert, uncomfortable, ready to spring 
into any breach should one occur.) 

WALTER 

Yes, and oh, I do want to go, Father! All the 
bunch is going. 

CALVIN 

Walter, you know I dislike slang. 

WALTER 

Yes, sir. The boys are all going, sir. 

CALVIN 

I don't think I approve. 

WALTER 

Please, Father! 

CALVIN 

I don't like teasing, Walter. 

WALTER 

But, Father . . . 
calvin (with cold gentleness) 

Why do you want to go to this circus, Walter? 

WALTER 

I've never seen one, and it will be such fun! 
calvin 

My son should think of other things than fun. 

WALTER 

I do! Sure I do, Father. 
calvin (correcting him) 
Surely I do. 

(Walter repeats it after him. There is a tense 
pause.) 

23 



SOUNDING BRASS 



Walter {timidly) 

Please may I go, Father? 

CALVIN 

I think it would be better for you if you learned 
at once that we must often give up what we 
want to do. I have noticed a tendency in you 
to insist upon what you want. 

{Walter looks puzzled.) 

MRS. CALVIN 

John, I . . . 

CALVIN 

Please, Mary. Walter, we won't discuss this 
any further. 

WALTER 

Do you mean that I can't go? 

CALVIN 

Yes. 

WALTER 

But why? 

CALVIN 

Because I think best. 
Walter {very near to tears) 

But all the . . . the boys are going. 

CALVIN 

You are not. 
Walter {blazing out suddenly) 
Yes, I am! 

{Mrs. Calvin sits upright at this outburst. Calvin 
simply stares^) 

WALTER 

I will go. I want to go. I told the boys I'd 
go. You just want to be mean, Father. I will go! 
24 



SOUNDING BRASS 



mrs. calvin {breathing it) 

Walter . . . 
calvin {dangerously) 

You will go ? 

WALTER 

Yes, I will. I don't care what you say! 

MRS. CALVIN 

Walter . . . ! 

CALVIN 

Wait, Mary. You say, Walter, that you will 
go. The ticket costs money. How do you 
propose to buy one ? 

WALTER 

I've got some money. I earned it. I can buy 
a ticket myself. 

CALVIN 

You earned money? How? 

WALTER 

Working for Mother. 

CALVIN 

Working for Mother? 

WALTER 

Yes, I did, I . . . 

{Mrs. Calvin watches every movement of her 
husband and son in agony.) 

CALVIN 

A son of mine took money from his mother 
when she asked him to help her? Walter, come 
here. Did you ever see me take payment from 
your mother for what I do for her? {Walter 
shakes his head slowly in negation?) No, / love 
your mother. 

25 



SOUNDING BRASS 



{Walter s eyes go to his mother s painfully, full 
of yearning. Mrs. Calvin opens her lips to 
speak, and then closes both eyes and lips with a 
tremendous effort.) 

CALVIN 

Am I to conclude that you do not love your 
mother? That you must be paid for everv 
service you do her? 

MRS. CALVIN 

John, don't! . . . 

Walter {as Calvin puts up his hand, flings him- 
self down by Mrs. Calvin s couch sobbing) 
Mother, I do love you! I do love you! 

{Mrs. Calvin puts an arm about him. Calvin 
motions her to be silent.) 

CALVIN 

Then, Walter, if you love your mother, prove 
it. Return her this money. Go. Bring it here. 
{IV alter sobs. Calvin speaks sternly, if only be- 
cause he is moved.) Go! 

MRS. CALVIN 

It was my fault. 

WALTER 

Oh, Mother, I do love you! 

CALVIN 

Then bring back the money. 
{Walter goes reluctantly, still sobbing.) 

MRS. CALVIN 

I gave him the money, because I felt that he 
was getting old enough to have an allowance. 
26 



SOUNDING BRASS 



CALVIN 

He must not sell his service to you. 

MRS. CALVIN 

Do let him go to the circus, John. It's such a 
small thing. 

CALVIN 

There are no small things. He must learn to 
sacrifice his wishes. He must give them up 
for the mere sake of giving them up. 

(Walter comes back slowly. He has stopped 
crying. Father and son face each other. The 
same steely look is in the eyes of each.) 

CALVIN 

The money? 

{Walter puts in his hand a child's bank. Calvin 
takes it to his wife.) 

CALVIN 

This is yours. 

(Walter s face is crossed by a sharp spasm of 
pain. Mrs. Calvin is breathing quickly in 
tortured silence. If Calvin were a lesser man, one 
might call him smug.) 

CALVIN 

Walter, beg your mother's pardon. Tell her 
that you are sorry. 

(Walter stands speechless.) 

CALVIN 

Walter! 
Walter (his voice very small, his lips trembling) 
I do. 

27 



SOUNDING BRASS 



MRS. CALVIN 

Darling — 
calvin {stopping her) 

My son, I hope you understand now that we do 
not take money from those we love. 

{Walter bends his head listlessly.) 

CALVIN 

You will have to prove, in many ways, both to 
me and to your mother, that you do love her. 

MRS. CALVIN 

No! I can't bear this! 

CALVIN 

Mary, you must leave this to me. {To Walter.) 
Because after such a thing as you have done, 
we cannot believe it easily. 

MRS. CALVIN 

/ believe it! I know it. 
calvin {eyeing her coldly) 

Do you want me to take Walter where I can 
speak to him alone? 

{Mrs. Calvin sinks back overcome. The boy is 
shivering from head to foot.) 

calvin {to Walter) 

Your conduct has been inexcusable this morn- 
ing. Among other things you have spoken to 
your father as no decent boy would speak. 

Walter {crying out under the strain) 
I'm sorry, Father! 

calvin 

Being sorry is the first step. But when we have 
done wrong we must be punished. 
28 



SOUNDING BRASS 



walter {involuntarily) 
No! 

{Mrs. Calvin moves helplessly.) 

CALVIN 

Yes, my son. 
mrs. calvin {crying out) 
Come to me, Walter! 

{The boy runs to her, hiding his face in her 
shoulder. Calvin starts toward them.) 

mrs. calvin {quietly) 

John, you mustn't do this. 

CALVIN 

I am doing what I think right. 

{Walter clings to his mother, his body shaking, but 
no sound coming. Calvin walks up and down the 
room once. Then he goes to the pair who cling 
together, and, not ungently, takes the boy's arm. 
The child flinches away. Calvin's lips tighten.) 

MRS. CALVIN 

John! 

calvin {disregarding her) 

Walter, I must make you remember the next 
time you are thwarted to control your temper. 

WALTER 

I'm sorry. 

CALVIN 

I want you to remember how sorry you are. 
Go upstairs now. Go into the closet in my 
room . . . 

WALTER 

Father! 

29 



SOUNDING BRASS 



CALVIN 

And shut the door. You will stay there in the 
dark until someone comes to release you. 

WALTER 

Father, don't make me do that! I'm so afraid 
of the dark ! 

CALVIN 

Walter! Are you ever going to be a man? You 
know that you've done wrong. Very well, then: 
take your medicine! 
Walter {in a desperate ', breaking voice) 
Oh, Mother! You ask him not to! 

MRS. CALVIN 

John, please . . . I . . . 
calvin {to Walter) 
Obey me, Walter! 

{Walter suddenly stiffens, looks his father straight 
in the eyes with an unchildish, inscrutable ex- 
pression , and goes out in silence?) 

MRS. CALVIN 

John! Don't do this thing. Don't! I was 
afraid of the dark when I was little. I know! 
He will be ill . . . He's just a child . . . 
a baby . 

CALVIN 

He is old enough not to be afraid of darkness. 
mrs. calvin {wildly) 

It's torture! You're going to torture your own 
son! 

CALVIN 

You're full of sick fancies, Mary. Control your- 
self. The boy's no weakling. He's just a young 
30 



SOUNDING BRASS 



animal that must be subdued. He must learn 
self-control, and he shall! 

MRS. CALVIN 

Your method with him is all wrong. It is! It 
is! He is far more nervous than he was a year 
ago. He's grown so thin . . . Can't you 
see, John? It's like putting him in the dark- 
cell. Your own son! Oh, I'm afraid for him! 
I'm afraid! 

calvin {coldly looking at his watch) 

Since your own nerves are in such a state, my 
poor Mary, you may release him for dinner. 
That will be in fifteen minutes. But mind! 
Leave him alone until then. I will not have 
my authority undermined. 

mrs. calvin {in a dead voice) 
Very well. 

{She starts to leave the room. There is a knock 
on the door leading to the office.) 

CALVIN 

Come in. {To Mrs. Calvin.) Try to rest and 
calm yourself before dinner, my dear. 

{He opens the door on the right and she goes out 
silently. Meanwhile King, the Principal Keeper, 
has entered at the other door and stands waiting, 
his cap in his hand. King is a lanky man of 
medium height, and is possessed of a pair of 
tricky, light blue eyes. He has sandy grey hair, 
and wears the dark blue uniform of a keeper.) 

calvin {turning to King) 

Well, Mr. King, I've been waiting to hear from 
you. You have to report? 
3i 



SOUNDING BRASS 



king {stolidly) 

The men in the cell-block who were fighting 
have been locked in their own cell, sir. We 
must send 'em to the cooler at once. I don't 
trust 'em together for long. 

CALVIN 

Quite right. The men are Moyne and . . . ? 

KING 

Wilson. Moyne's pretty bad off, sir. 

CALVIN 

Hurt? 

KING 

No, sick. Fever or something. He was to 
have gone to the hospital today. 
calvin {sternly) 

He was not too sick to break the rules of this 
prison. He cannot escape punishment on that 
plea. He will go to the dark-cells for one week. 

KING 

Yes, sir. 

CALVIN 

They'll make out a commitment order in my 
office. Just get it now, and I'll sign it at once. 
I want to get to my dinner. 

KING 

Very well, sir. 

{He goes out into the office. As he closes the door 
behind him, another door upstairs bangs sharply 
and suddenly, so that Calvin s attention is arrested. 
Overhead there is the sound of quick running to 
and fro. Calvin listens intently. A woman s 
voice cries out terribly. Calvin moves toward the 
door uncertainly . More footsteps, then— silence. 
32 



SOUNDING BRASS 



All at once Mrs. Calvin appears in the doorway. 
She is very white and very quiet. Her breath 
comes quickly ', and her eyes are staring.} 

calvin {sharply) 
What is it? 

MRS. CALVIN 

Your son . . «, 

CALVIN 

Is he hurt? 

MRS. CALVIN {slowly) 

He . . . is . . . {She breaks off with a 

sharp cry, and holds up the now empty phial in 

which were the strychnine pills.) 
calvin {aghast) 

The strychnine? Not . . . {His voice rises 

fantastically.) God! It's empty! 
mrs. calvin {tearless and quiet) 

Empty. 
calvin {still in that high-pitched tone oj horror) 

The boy? 
mrs. calvin {between quick breaths, her face ex- 
pressionless) 

He is dead. . . . Your son is dead. 
calvin {in a choking whisper, still staring at the 

bottle stupidly) 

Dead . . . 
mrs. calvin {mechanically) 

Go up and see . . . 
calvin {his mouth too dry to articulate) 

Doctor — 
mrs. calvin {monotonously) 

He was all alone ... all alone in the dark. 
. He was afraid ... of the dark. 
33 



SOUNDING BRASS 



. . . Do you remember that he was afraid 
of the dark? (She takes her eyes from him, and 
stares down at the phial in her hand.) 

(Calvin pulls at his collar, wets his lips, and 
moves his head stiffly from side to side in a dazed 
way. Mrs. Calvin stands in frozen silence. There 
is a knock at the door leading from the office. 
Neither of them hears it. Another, louder knock. 
King opens the door and enters. He looks from 
the Warden to his wife in alarm at their appear- 
ance. Not knowing what to do he holds out the 
paper he has in his hand to Calving 

king (with nervous embarrassment) 

The commitment, sir — to send Moyne to the 
dark-cells. 

calvin (who has not seemed to notice King s pres- 
ence before, at these words lifts his head with a 
great cry) 
The dark-cells! . . . The dark . . . ! 

(He grasps at the air, then crashes headlong. 
King runs to hi?n. Mrs. Calvin stands still, 
staring at the phial in her hand.) 

CURTAIN 



34 



PRODUCTION NOTES 

It is not in the least my desire to seem to force 
my point of view on the possible producers of 
Sounding Brass. On the other hand I have found 
in Little Theatres, and even in Larger Theatres, 
that on occasion the author can make useful 
suggestions. For this reason then, if for no other, 
I append the following notes. 

The prison walls are of grey stone, old and 
stained. The large windows are for ventilation, 
and open into the corridors. They are heavily 
barred, the bars being thicker than those used at 
the cell windows. Over the entire window is a 
heavy wire screen. The cell windows are about 
three times as high as they are wide, and they are 
about four feet in height. They are well barred. 
The casements on all the windows are very deep 
and sloping. 

Needless to say this sketch is not drawn to 
scale. It aims to give merely the rough actual 
outlines. The bars and screen are not drawn in. 
The grey stone blocks that make the prison wall 
are about two feet by three feet. Details are 
unimportant: the impression conveyed by the 
whole is the essential thing. 

The room has been, and in most respects still 
is, primarily institutional. The walls are painted 
that ghastly shade, an "institutional green," 
and little effort has been made to relieve them with 
pictures or decorations of any kind. On the floor 

35 



D 
D 
D 



DDODD 
QDDDD 
ODDDD 




BACK-DROP SHOWING CELL-BLOCK 







J 







SCENE PLOT 



36 



SOUNDING BRASS 



is a dark carpet unbrightened by rugs. At the 
back are two large windows looking out over the 
prison yard, and across to the cell-block. On the 
Right is the entrance to the other rooms in the 
Warden's quarters. A heavy, dark-green, plush 
portiere covers this. Outside this door are stairs, 
but it is not necessary to show them. On the 
Left is the entrance to the prison office. Down 
Right is a good-sized fireplace with a built-in 
grate. There is a reading couch near it. There 
is a small sewing table near this couch, as well as 
a small chair or stool. A large library table, 
Center. It is of dark wood, and on it is a reading 
lamp which lights most of the room. There are 
overhead lights which are seldom used. The room 
is full of shadows. The woodwork is composed of 
heavy golden oak pannelling running up to about 
four feet all round the walls. It appears to be 
heavily carved. Books and the usual parapher- 
nalia are on the great table. The room was in- 
tended to be costly by the contractor who made 
it a half-century ago, and it is. It is cold, men- 
acing, and in painfully bad taste. 

CHARACTERIZATION NOTES 

MRS. CALVIN 

She is a sensitive, passionate woman repressed 
by an uncongenial marriage and the ill health 
which it has brought upon her. Where she 
expected to find strength and firmness, she has 
encountered only ethical fanaticism and ruth- 
less obstinacy. To protect her son from these 
traits in her husband until Walter has become 
37 



SOUNDING BRASS 

able to protect himself is now the sole aim of 
her life. The fact that she cannot protect him 
more effectually is slowly consuming her. She 
is despairing, never hysterical. But she is 
afraid to defy Calvin outright, as experience 
has taught her that such a course on her part 
only drives him into harsher severity towards 
Walter. 

CALVIN — 

He is of Scotch blood of the stern, self-denying, 
self-flaying type, and like most of his tempera- 
ment, he not only exacts this of himself, but 
insists upon it in others. He does not like to 
feel that he is suffering alone, and to him 
"goodness" and pain are one. Two generations 
back, on his native soil, he would have said 
candidly that he acted as he did to save his 
soul. Now, however, he has substituted ethics 
for religion. He suffers from anachronism of 
conscience. 
king — 

An old-fashioned policeman in authority. 

WALTER — 

The boy is high-strung and sensitive; all his 
mother except for a latent, flinty determination 
which underlies the gentleness of his nature and 
which he inherits from his father. The struggle 
of his parents over him is only too apparent to 
him. His mother seeks to rule him by love, his 
father by the harsh use of authority. In this 
last conflict between them he realizes suddenly 
that in the last analysis his mother has no real 
power to protect him against the terror and in- 
justice of his father's rule, and that she will 
38 



SOUNDING BRASS 

never have this power. To a child a year seems 
an eternity, and Walter feels that he has -many 
years of such terror and suffering to face. 
Keyed to the utmost pitch of revolt by the 
accusations of his father and his congenital 
horror of the dark, he chooses death rather than 
the life he sees before him. 

COSTUME PLOT 

MRS. CALVIN 

Dark dress relieved only by a touch of white 
at the throat and wrists. The dress should be 
of rather soft, clinging material so that it will 
tend to accentuate the long lines of her figure. 

CALVIN — 

Sack suit, probably a grey mixture, well-made 
and of good stuff. Dark four-in-hand tie, 
and black shoes. He is well-dressed because he 
is well-bred, but he has not at all the appearance 
of one who considers his clothes. 
king — 

Dark blue uniform, not of military cut, but 
more like those worn by train conductors, with 
a single-breasted lapel coat with brass buttons. 
Black bow tie, and black shoes. Stiff military 
cap with blue visor. 

WALTER 

Tweed knickerbocker suit. Soft color. Flow- 
ing tie. Black shoes and stockings. 

NOTES ON ACTING 

The play begins in an easy measure, and rises 
sharply to its climax. The entrance of Calvin — 

39 



SOUNDING BRASS 



the bank incident — Walter's final exit — and Mrs. 
Calvin's final entrance all mark changes in tempo. 
In the last scene Mrs. Calvin is numb and still in 
contrast to Calvin, who has entirely lost his 
balance and is nearly mad in consequence. They 
both appear as the direct opposite of what they 
have been, outwardly, before. Walter goes 
through three phases — up to his father's refusal — 
from there to the return of the money — and from 
that on. — E. H. B. 



40 



Contemporary One-Act Plays of iqu 

american 

Edited hy Frank Shay 

THIS volume represents a careful and intelligent selection of 
the best One~act Plays written by Americans and produced 
by the Little Theatres in jAmeriea during the season of 1911. 
They are representative of the best work of writers in this field 
and show the high level to which the art theatre has risen in 
America. 

The editor has brought to his task a love of the theatre and 
a knowledge of what is best through long association with the 
leading producing groups. 

The volume contains the repertoires of the leading Little 
Theatres, together with bibliographies of published plays and 
books on the theatre issued since January, 1920, 

Aside from its Individual importance, the volume, together 
with Fifty Contemporary One»Act Playa, will make up the 
most important collection of short plays published. 

In the Book are 

the following Plays by the following Authors 

Mirage. ............ ..,-... ....;......... .George M. P. Baird 

Napoleon's Barber. ......................... .Arthur Caesar 

Goat Alley. ... .............. .Ernest Howard Culbertson 

Sweet and Twenty ............................. .Floyd Dell 

Tickless Time. ....... .Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook 

The Hero of Santa Maria. . . .Kenneth Sawyer Goodman and 

Ben Hecht 
All Gummed Up. ................... . Harry Wagstaff Gribble 

Thompson's Luck ................. .Harry Greenwood Grover 

Fata Deorum .............................. .Carl W. Guske 

Pearl of Dawn .Holland Hudson 

Finders-Keepers .............................. George Kelly 

Solomon's Song Harry Kemp 

Matinata ................................ Lawrence Langner 

The Conflict .Clarice Vailette McCauley 

Two Slatterns and a King. .......... .Edna St. Vincent Millay 

Thursday Evening. .................... .Christopher Morley 

The Dreamy Kid. ......................... . .Eugene O'Neill 

Forbidden Fruit ............. ........ .George Jay Smith 

Jezebel. .............................. .Dorothy Stockbridge 

Sir David Wears a Crown. ................... .Stuart Walker 

izmo, Silk Cloth $ j./jT 
% Turkey Morocco $10.00 



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